Sappi Awards Girl Scouts of Maine With Unique Paper Scientist Patch

To encourage girls to pursue fields in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), several Sappi employees worked with the Girl Scouts of Maine to develop a first-of-its-kind Girl Scout Paper Scientist Patch. It was awarded to 15 Girl Scouts from Troop 574 in Westbrook, Maine and Troop 2070 in Gorham, Maine.

Girls earn their patch by learning about paper and paper products; trees and sustainable forestry; and sustainable consumption, including the elimination of wasteful use, paper recycling, and reuse. The girls who received their patch attended a Papermaking Patch Expo at the Westbrook Technology Center, where they got their hands dirty making pulp, used an electron microscope to look at paper coatings, and made “trash-to-treasure robots” adorned with plenty of glitter.

Mary Buckelew—Inside Sales Manager, National Accounts based in Sappi’s South Portland office and instrumental in making the patch happen— is a Girl Scout leader whose daughter is in among the troops. “My daughter and all the girls are so proud to be among the first to earn this special badge through their hands-on science learning,” she says. “But we hope to expand the program, first in Maine, then in Minnesota, and then nationwide—or even globally.”

Read more from Sappi North America's 2018 Sustainability Report here: tiny.cc/SappiNA_SR18